Dinner was seldom my thing. I never had anything to say, nothing new to talk about, and all my war stories depressed everyone. I had several of these little dinner parties with my soldiers, but it was drinks and roughhousing. Now apparently the self-proclaimed “social elite” wanted to have a massive sit down with the princess to celebrate the war coming to an end. It wasn’t over by a long shot, but we took what little solace we could. They can believe whatever they want, I won't say a word, but they'd better not get in the way when death comes knocking at the door.

I walked into the dining hall, trying to keep my posture perfect and upright. The royal sisters sat on one side, accompanied by Cadence, with other socialites across from them. I proceeded towards the table with every intention to sit next to Luna. She meets my careful gaze and a subtle smile crosses her mouth. My cheeks turn a slight red, as I do my best to seem casual on my approach to the seat. Before I even get to the table, our moment is cut short when some colt with a monocle and brown hair, sits next to her, with plenty to talk about. As he begins chatting away, she says something to him. As he looks down into his pocket, she turns her head towards me and mouths “Sorry!”. I smile and nod, doing my best to cage in the seething beast.

Seeing as how Celestia’s former table was still being repaired, they had taken several smaller ones and draped a normal large cloth over it. There’s equal amounts of ponies on both sides, so I sit across from the royal family, which puts me at the very end. It’s just as well, I’m not feeling remotely talkative. The occasional pony trots up, eager to know what little I'll tell about humans, Taraska and the Og Nag. Moral had finally stopped circling the drain and I wasn't about to ruin it with stories of how the Og Nag just seem to appear in vast numbers.

Throughout dinner, Luna and I occasionally lock eyes briefly. She does her best not to be rude to her immediate neighbor. Eventually he runs out of things to say to her, or he picks up on her anti-social vibe. Whatever the case was, he begins conversing with the guest across from him. I grumble to myself internally.
“Why not just get up and leave at that point?”. Luna sighs and stares at her plate, once again being condemned to another evening of being heavily ignored.

I fantasized about myself getting up, walking over to him, and motioning that it was time for him to go. He’s too intimidated to object and leaves. I sit there, proudly next to her, as we celebrate our small victory with conversation, and sophisticated gestures that only we understood.

I wanted so badly to walk up and run him out of my rightful place, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The thought of all those eyes staring at me, not knowing what to say or do. What if it upset her? What if she’d rather I didn’t? Her lonely expression was heartbreaking. She pushes her food around on her plate as if it was the only friend she had. I contemplate what to say and do. The longer I waited, the more demasculated I felt, which simply compounded the effect.

A small spark appears in Luna’s eyes, as she defiantly lifts her head. I can tell she’s thinking something, but I can’t guess what. She steps off her chair, and carries her food and drink with her. She makes her way around the table, and begins walking towards me. The chatter comes to a gradual halt, as everyone is captivated by her unusual behavior.
I catch her eye, and with a subtle smile of my own, I pull out the chair to my left. She climbs into it, and sets her food down. We say nothing as we eat together. I didn’t need eyes to know that everyone was watching us. We didn’t care. I reach over and gently swat her leg with the back of my hand; she whips my arm with her tail.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Celestia and Cadance both struggling to keep their giggling at bay. They both beam at us. Celestia leans over to Cadence and lets out an amused coo. They keep snickering to themselves, while watching us with adored interest. I take in a few mouthfulls of food, trying to think of what to say. Funny how I had waited so long to talk with her, just to remain silent.

I swallow a bit, as my heart starts racing.
“How...how was your day?” I say quietly.
She looks over at me; those gorgeous teal eyes. I start shaking a bit and look down at my food. She starts snickering. She bumps me with her hoof. I look over at her.
“Your nickname is Captain Tomato okay?” she whispers. I stare at her before I realize my face is on fire, as always.

After a brief second, we share a hushed laugh. A moment flashes between us, and we both break eye contact in embarrassment. I start thinking about how many times my life was almost cut short while I was here. How she had saved me from my own kingdom. I get this strange feeling in my head, that I just don’t care anymore. I feel my hand autonomously reach over and gently grasp her ankle.
She glances at both my face and my hand in mild confusion. To help make it just a bit more clear, I lightly stroke her ankle with my thumb.

Her mouth trembles a bit as she smiles. She sets her hoof on my leg. Without caring even the slightest, she levitates her chair so she’s right next to me. She leans over, resting her cheek on my shoulder.
“Thank you…” I whisper. Her ear twitches a bit before she soothingly nuzzles me under my jaw. I glance over and see Celestia with both her hooves over her mouth, as she watches us with a pleasant shock. Both her and Cadence’s ears go back as they smile uncontrollably.

I hear Luna sigh.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She takes her cheek off my shoulder and speaks quietly in my ear.
“I just...wish they’d all stop staring.” I nod a few times, then remember I had soldiers in the room, standing at the entrance. They were more for everyone’s comfort, as well as a bit of show and tell. I hold up three fingers next to my head so they can see. I turn my hand ninety degrees and make a waving motion as if I was telling them to march forward.

They’re smart enough to get what I want. I act casual, as I lift up Luna’s plate and mine. She holds our glasses with her magic as her eyes dart around in confusion. My soldiers pull the tablecloth back from our side, all the way across the table to our right. The room goes silent. The soldiers pick up the exposed table next to me, and move it behind us several feet. Now that here’s a nice gap between myself and the nearest table, the soldiers form a solid line facing the rest of the guests. They raise their shields to their chest, blocking sight.

Luna is caught off guard for a few seconds before she bursts out laughing. I look at her and shrug a bit.
“Best I can do.” I see Celestia’s horn stagger to the left and right, as she tries to peek over my soldiers at us. Cadence and Celestia let out loud giggling and the rest of the guests join in. The laughter dies down, and I finally get the alone time that I’ve wanted with my princess.

Why is it that I can only keep my interaction with her going when it’s humerous? She glances down at my hand as it trembles against her warm fur. I try to take my eyes off my plate, but terror has me in her grip. She leans into my ear; her warm breath makes me shudder.

She whispers to me.
“Captain Tomato reporting for duty?” I can’t help but nod with a slight smile of humiliation. There's just no way to look at her. Those teal eyes dance just barely in my vision. She keeps her mouth just an inch from my ear. Her breath creeps around my face, as if she was seducing me from afar. I hear her mouth open. I'm completely caught off guard as her hot tongue make its way from the base of my neck, to my ear. She takes her time with it too. My entire body spasms.

My eyes bulge and my hand shakes so hard that all the food falls off it. All I can do is stare straight ahead in shock, having no idea what to do. She goes back to laying her head on my shoulder, but angles it so her muzzle is under my jaw, with her horn behind my head. I can’t help but relax with her warm body so close to mine. My arm wraps around her side, stroking her fur.
I hear a slow, content sigh from her. The corner of her mouth curls into a small smile, tickling my jaw.

I’m brought out of my trance when a pony sits across from me. He’s weird. He’s slightly larger than most of the other ponies I’ve seen, but just a tad smaller than Luna. Luna sighs a bit, but takes her head off my shoulder, snapping back to her regal persona.

He says nothing. White fur, and an auburn mane, trimmed to a mohawk that goes down his neck. It hangs to the right side. He wears a white, button-up shirt. His brown eyes stare at me; unblinking, empty and cold. There’s an exhausted redness around them. I feel Luna’s back muscles strain under my hand. I glance over at her and see her eyes grow wide. She looks almost angry and fearful at the same time.

I eye our new guest meticulously. He seems relaxed and a bit of a snob. A slight smile crosses his mouth. He stares into my eyes as I stare into his. My stomach flips. There’s something way too off about this colt. Luna narrows her eyes and turns her head towards me ever so slightly. She’s as skeptical as I am.
He cocks an eyebrow.
“So, General Raiden is it? So good to finally meet you.” His voice carries a subtle sarcasm. My heart starts pounding. His voice sounds odd. Almost familiar. Luna glances at me, then back to him, with perplexity. I look to my right; no one else notices our new friend. Without making a scene, I give him a respectful nod.
“Always a pleasure. Who are you may I ask?”
His eyes flinch a bit.
“Well I have so many names. It’s hard to choose just one.”
Luna glares at him. “Raiden...he’s familiar. In two very bad ways.” she whispers angrily.
“How so?” I ask quietly.
She exhales strongly through her nostrils.
“He reminds me a lot of you...and of...Zaran. The presence that was in me before.” She says his name as a whisper to not draw attention.

Our guest wiggles a single eyebrow in response, now watching Luna. He has no horn, but my cup glows orange as it floats to his mouth and he takes a sip. My right hand carefully makes its way down to my hilt.
He doesn’t move.
“Don’t even bother Raiden.”
Luna shifts a bit.
“What do you want?” she says so flat it’s almost not even a question.
He shrugs and looks down at his drink.
“Nothing much, just wanted to talk to my...friend here.”
He’s way too calm. It could be a ploy but I had my doubts. It was one hell of a gamble, surrounding himself with three alicorns in their very palace, who would probably at least try to fight him. No. This was no ploy. And it was about to get ugly.
I don’t dare take my eyes off Zaran.

“Luna. Get everyone out of here.”
Her mouth hangs open and her ears go back, as she looks at me with concern.
“Now, Luna.” I grumble. She grits her teeth, but gets out of the chair. She takes a moment to look at her guests before speaking.
“Everypony. The dinner party is over. Please take care of yourselves, and we shall have have you over again shortly.“

My guards turn to face the way they came, and march to the doors exiting the dining room. They walk over and hold the double doors open. Celestia and Cadence stare at us confused. Luna gives them a nervous stare. Neither of them say anything, but start studying myself and our new guest, unaware of the massive danger that was about to go down.
I hear Luna swallow.
“Sister...we need to leave these two alone to talk.” They give us one last curious look before quietly getting up and leaving with Luna. I slowly stand up and turn to the side, ready to draw my blade and behead him at a moment's notice.
Zaran watches Luna leave. He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
“Your Luna is just so much more pretty.” He puts his hooves together and gives me sarcastic puppydog eyes. He knows full well he’s easily within my reach, but he just sits there in his chair, calm as can be.
I try to steady my nerves; I don’t want to blindly fall into one of his games.
“What do you want?” My voice is flat, but it fluctuates a few times.

Zaran shrugs while looking into his cup.
“Don’t you play with your food as well?”

I inhale slowly, still treading carefully..
“You’d find me hard to digest.”

He rolls his eyes.
“Doubtful. The other two versions of you didn’t put up much of a fight, and they had magic. You're just a boy with metal.”

Luna’s words from the last battle suddenly ecco in my mind.

Listen to me, and listen carefully, we will not have time to discuss this! There are four main universes, with limitless alternate dimensions! There is a Human realm and a pony realm, both being considered “good”. Then there are evil versions for both the pony realm and human realm. We believe that a specific evil pony realm has found a way to travel through dimensions.

So he was my evil pony equivalent, who’s consumed both my other counterparts. So why even bother? Why not be done with it? Why drag it out? I would never do that without reason. I had to choose my words carefully. He wants something, but what? Is there some trick to consuming me? Maybe I have an advantage the others didn’t since I already knew of his presence.

My thoughts are destroyed when the realization sets in. He’s Zaran. Zaran is my evil counterpart. I am my own worst enemy...literally. I can’t think anymore. It’s unreal. No, I can’t think like that now. There’s a battle in front of me and I need to win. So what’s his plan?

Zaran scoffs.
“There is no plan. I have a conversation with all my counterparts. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to get a second chance you know?”

I stare at him for a second. Could he read my mind? Has he grown that much in power? Zaran rolls his eyes.

“No, I can’t read your mind. But I can put myself in your shoes and we basically have the same thought process.” He sets the drink down.
“That being said, there has always been something that puzzles me. The conversation is almost always different. I’d assume different species, mean different histories. For instance the Luna in your timeline was a tremendous mage and archer.” He pretends to be thinking, but I know he’s trying to captivate me with information from other worlds.

Wait. If there’s a good and bad realm of everything...am I good or bad? And am I destined to be soulmates with the same person in every realm? Would I leave the pony Luna for the human Luna? Zaran coughs up his drink, as he bows his head with laughter.
“Oh the Luna discussion. The good human version of you had a lot of questions too. We talked for quite some time. It does seem terribly vain to enjoy one’s own conversation, but still.”

The good version? Does that make me evil? Is that why I’ve killed so many people? Am I really a murderer? My mind thinks back through all the foes who have fallen at my hands. If I had been the good one, I would have found a peaceful way -no.

This is his game...my game. He’s distracting me. Yes, there were a lot of questions, but I’d have to sacrifice my own curiosity this time. I’m sure my counterparts didn’t know of Zaran when he talked to them. He's dropping little hints, knowing my mind will wander. Questions he had at first that he already has answers to. I replay Zaran’s words in my mind. He intentionally said “the good human” knowing where my thoughts would go.

Zaran seems to become less interested in our conversation as time grows on. How do I fight him? If he’s as powerful as three of me, and they’re all magic based...wait. If he’s the evil pony version, and has magic, and my other good counterparts had magic, then why don’t I? Or do I have magic?

I flash back to the forest where the Garge picked me up. Zaran spoke to me, and I ignited the beast. I had completely forgot. That’s it! He messed up with his lies and he was trying to distract me. He was controlling the Garge and couldn’t kill me! I relax a bit, knowing this isn’t some doomed hope.

Zaran sighs with annoyance.
“I’m going to assume from your relaxed demeanor that you remembered that instance in the forest. Sorry to disappoint, but that was a one-time gimmick I’ve since corrected. You see, I’m what I refer to as an Elemancer. Each realm has it’s own elements. In the good realms, the elements are sent by their respective trees to the ones who deserve it. But in the evil realms, our realms, the elements choose their own hosts, and they are picky, let me tell you.” He takes another casual drink while chuckling lightly, but I start to see through his charade.

He’s doing too good of a job of acting calm. I need to harness this magic. He’s lying to me. Am I really that bad of a liar, or am I good at reading people? I had to stop thinking. This is what he wants. He knows the answers to my questions, the same ones he asked. I have nothing to lose at the moment. In a flash, I draw my sword and swing it to his neck.

The sword hits some type of magical barrier around him. It vibrates so hard on impact, it's forced from my hand. The sword goes flying across the table, shattering various glasses and plates. It spins a few times as it lands, eventually falling to the floor and taking most of the tablesloth with it. I sigh to myself, but I had my answer at least. If I was going to win, I needed to harness this internal magic.
Zaran gets off his stool, and casually trots around the table. I back up several steps until I’m in the middle of the room. Zaran sits down on his haunches.
“Well then, enough of this. I wished our conversation had been more interesting than the others but I guess no-” The double doors burst open. Zaran doesn’t even look over, but he still glares slightly. Lucretia is being held up by Emeris. Both of them have some serious wounds. Lucretia pants as blood slowly drools from her mouth. She has bruises all over her face, and her hair’s a wreck.
Emeris’ right side of his face is still smoking from whatever engagement they were in. It’s completely chard. He keeps his right eye closed, but half his hair is gone. They glare at Zaran. Emeris looks at me with both terror and anger.
“Raiden, no time to explain but Zaran ambushed us. I don’t know what he wants but he told us he devoured you. Whatever he’s said to you, he’s full of lies!”

Zaran stomps an angry hoof as his eyes glow red. “Enough!” he roars. A massive red sphere of power erupts from his body, sending Emeris and Lucretia flying back out the doors. His body is covered with random sparks of what looks like red lightning. His hair stands on end, as if caught in an upwards draft.
I’m strangely unaffected by his blast however. I examine my hands in curiously. Zaran looks me over in subtle panic, still trying to do his superior act. I march towards him and stop just a few meters away, as I see the strange red electricity start coursing around my body as well.

Zaran sighs a bit in frustration. “This is going to be interesting.” he says with an annoyed, sarcastic tone.